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Darth Vader Invades South Osaka (Noooooooooo!)
When I first moved to Osaka, I lived near Shinsekai—a rough part of town in the south. My apartment was clean and spacious, but the area was populated with drunks, prostitutes, and gangsters. And this weekend, it was filled with Imperial Stormtroopers. Shinsekai is one of the stigmatized parts of Osaka. Many in North Osaka,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 7, 2012 -
Game Characters Embarrassing Themselves on Facebook
Mario is a boozehound. Luigi loves photo bombs. Peach is vain. Some of gaming’s greatest characters get classic (and clever) Facebook pic parodies. It’s not just Nintendo characters getting in on the act. There is Metal Gear Solid’s Snake, whose military pic I saw coming. While not embarrassing, Nathan Drake’s family photo is definitely revealing.…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 7, 2012 -
Chun-Li and Poison Picking on the Tekken Dude
Ouch | TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Namco’s Katsuhiro Harada got picked on by Capcom bullies at the Taipei Game Show. (Photo: Game Watch Impress) Dying in an Internet Cafe Is More Terrible Than You Can Imagine As Kotaku previously reported, a 23-year-old man recently died at a Taiwanese internet cafe. Nine hours later, someone noticed. The country’s…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 6, 2012 -
The Sights of Taiwan’s Big Gaming Blowout
Now in its tenth year, the Taipei Game Show was expected to draw over 300,000 visitors. As previously reported, this year’s show also packed in overseas game companies to show new hardware, like the PS Vita, as well as new games. Click through the above gallery to check out the festivities. And be sure to…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 6, 2012 -
Can You Handle the Bullets? The Beauty? The Madness?
Cave’s newest shooter DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou recently got its first arcade location at Japanese game center Taito Hey! in Tokyo’s Akihabara. The vibrant shooter looks stunning—wonderful in every way. This is what Cave does better than anyone else. Dodonpachi Saidaioujou 1st location test [YouTube]
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 6, 2012 -
Let The King of Fighters Bring You to Climax
Oh my! The King of Fighters XIII is getting a new version, The King of Fighters XIII: Climax. It apparently brings characters from KOFXIII‘s home console versions, such as Nests Style Kyo, to arcades. Location tests kick off next weekend in Tokyo and Osaka. The King of Fights XIII: Climax [Kotaku Japan]
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 6, 2012 -
Dying in an Internet Cafe Is More Terrible Than You Can Imagine
As Kotaku previously reported, a 23-year-old man recently died at a Taiwanese internet cafe. Nine hours later, someone noticed. The country’s Next Media Animation—who’s behind all those computer animation recreations—portrayed the event in its news story. The computer CG scenes, along with the actual news scene, make the clip not only highly disturbing, but also…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 6, 2012 -
Japanese Cosplayer Is Too Hot for Taiwan
Won’t somebody think of the children? You think of the children; Ushijima Ii Niku (“Good Meat”) is going to push every envelope she can with her daring cosplay. Taiwan’s TTV visited the FancyFrontier event in Taipei, which is filled with self-published comics. As Kotaku previously posted, the event is crawling with cosplayers. But they’re wearing…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 6, 2012 -
Glittery Crotch Is Not Already Dead. Somebody Purchased It.
Fist of the North Star‘s Kenshiro got a life-sized statue last fall. It was covered in 500,000 Swarovski crystals, apparently worth ¥10,000,000 or $130,000. For those not familiar with Fist of the North Star, watch this. It’s badass. The figure was put on the Yahoo! Auction block, with the winning bid hitting ¥3 million yen…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 6, 2012 -
An Examination of Japanese Characters’ “Whiteness”
Japanese anime, manga, and game characters sometimes have blond hair. Sometimes they have blue eyes. But, that’s merely cosmetic, no? There must be some sort of analysis that cuts closer to the bone. Literally. Back in fall 2010, Kotaku ran a story titled “Why Do Japanese Characters Look White?” It was based on a post…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 6, 2012 -
These 3DS Girls Are Freaky
The Nintendo 3DS is not a new platform. It does have a bunch of games, but even then, I can safely say this is the most screwed up character design the handheld has seen. These faces belong to characters in upcoming 3Ds game Hime Gal Paradise, which like the manga it’s based on features girls…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2012 -
Ultraman Is a Fancy Dresser
Ultra Cool | TOKYO, JAPAN: Ultraman (men?) pose in 2006 at the opening of an Ultraman movie. (Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi | AP) IKEA, and the Logic of Video Game Design A visit to IKEA usually means house moving, renovating, and too much fun spent with LEGO for grown-ups. But is there an element of videogame…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2012 -
Man Lights Fireworks. Man Blows Up Manhole.
A man in a blue jacket crouched, lighting a firecracker on a manhole. The children stuck their fingers in their ears. What happened next was caught on a security camera. It can only be described as unbelievable. Gas in the drainage system unexpectedly caught fire, causing an explosion that sent the 44-pound manhole several stories…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2012 -
Perverts Running Amok with NSFW SoulCalibur V Character Creation!
If you allow people the freedom to create things, you can count on this: sex. Just look at all the dick faces people made with Nintendo Miis. Nintendo Miis! They’re the most innocuous things imaginable, and bam, cocks So, when you have a game like SoulCalibur V, which has been baiting hyper sexuality, you’re going…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2012 -
Let This Gothic Lolita Shoot Up Your Shelves
DeathSmiles is a horizontal shmup from bullet hell developer Cave. It’s not my favorite Cave title by any stretch, but it does have a sizeable following due to its Christmas-in-Hell asethetic. Plus, the game stars Gothic Lolitas, like batgirl Casper. People seem to like those. This figure was first released back in 2009, but the…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2012 -
Leave It to this Italian To Bring a South Korean MMORPG to Life
Way before cosplay was mainstream, Italy’s Giorgia was doing her thing, dressing up as game and anime characters. She’s been cosplaying since 1997, which, in internet time, must be a century. Giorgia’s photos are extremely well done—ditto for the outfits. No wonder she won Best Individual Cosplayer at the 2005 World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2012 -
Marvel at Sony’s Amazing Gravity Rush Whiteboard Drawings
Sony invited a group of Japanese press to its offices to check out upcoming PS Vita game Gravity Rush. These types of tours can start to blur into each other, with game developers giving the press the hard sell. But this tour had something I’d never seen before: whiteboard drawings! The game creators created these…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2012 -
The Horror of Plastic Figures
You might think this statue of Nene Anegasaki from Konami’s love sim Love Plus looks pretty nice. You might think it’s well sculpted and well put together. But wait until you see it in pieces. The horror! Obviously, this is the kit deconstructed form, but man, that’s some scary sauce. Orders are being taken now,…
By Brian Ashcraft Published February 3, 2012
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